The Food Scout

For years now, I’ve been saying that it’s only a matter of time before the government starts SERIOUSLY going after the food industry the same way it went after the tobacco industry over the past 40 years: What started as a warning label on cigarettes, grew to advertising restrictions, heavier taxes, then public smoking bans, until today when smoking cigarettes in public is downright socially unacceptable and nearly considered the equivalent of brandishing a loaded gun at others. Get ready, food industry.

“Wheat gluten” may someday be the infamous food ingredient the industry uses to refer to the tipping point that led to a large-scale reexamination and overhaul of the way in which we source, process and label our food products. But while the governments of the U.S. and China search for the manufacturing plant hiding the smoking gun on the melamine-tainted wheat gluten issue, the industry is not waiting for a top-down change. Already (and prior to the pet food recall), we are seeing a swelling trend ON THE MAINSTREAM LEVEL of companies making moves to add accountability and assurance to the food supply chain.

Now for the other side of the coin. What if your products, like Colombian coffee, Ecuadoran bananas, Chilean wine or Italian Parmesan, HAVE to come from far away. In this case, Wisconsin cheese would clearly win out over imported, if distance were all that mattered. No, if you can’t win on the sprint races (a.k.a., “Food Miles” claims), then you have to train for marathons (a.k.a., “Fair Trade” claims). And the food equivalent of that is building a good story around the food.

In case you’re not aware, now that “organic” is so terribly institutionalized and mainstream, and no longer exclusive or elusive, it’s time we move on. The next enviro-friendly challenge is “carbon footprinting.”